Geauga County Commissioners Find Middle Ground on Road Paving.
BY JEFF SKINNER
CHARDON - The Geauga County Board of Commissioners approved critical infrastructure funding and ironed out a high-stakes construction dispute in a split session, prioritizing project momentum and long-term fiscal compromise to protect county assets.
In a series of 2–1 votes, the board’s majority—led by Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri—pushed forward on an unbudgeted funding match for the Geauga County Fairgrounds and finalized an immediate corrective remedy for a flawed paving project at the county Safety Center.
The decisions highlighted a pragmatic governance style focused on capturing immediate state funding, leveraging contractor accountability, and keeping vital public works moving forward without costly legal delays.
The most contentious debate centered on a recent repaving project at the Geauga County Safety Center parking lot. Core samples revealed that the lowest-bid contractor, Ohio Paving, utilized an unapproved asphalt mix on a portion of the lot, resulting in high air voids and localized water pooling, or "ponding".
While Commissioner James W. Dvorak demanded a full-depth removal of the entire parking lot—a move that would trigger extensive legal battles and halt the project through the winter—Spidalieri and Commissioner Carolyn Brakey steered the board toward a more fiscally responsible, immediate solution.
Under the approved 2–1 measure, Ohio Paving will immediately mill down and properly resurface the affected failed areas at no additional cost to taxpayers before winter weather sets in. To secure the remaining portions of the lot that visually appear sound, the board opted to utilize the county’s leverage to negotiate an extended multi-year warranty.
The compromise ensures the Safety Center team gets an operational, structurally sound parking lot this year while avoiding the cost of additional county-funded testing and protracted courtroom litigation.
Pragmatic resource management also won out during a review of the Geauga County Agricultural Society’s $2.6 million multi-purpose building project at the fairgrounds. Fair officials, including fair secretary Meg Noah, requested a $750,000 county contribution to transition Merchant Hall 2 into a year-round educational and exposition venue.
A dissenting vote was cast by Dvorak out of concern that the unbudgeted allocation would push a planned restoration of the historic old courthouse roof into 2028. However, the majority recognized that delaying the fairgrounds project posed a severe financial risk: the county stood to lose $700,000 in already-secured state capital grant funding if phase one construction did not proceed under strict state deadlines.
Furthermore, fair officials noted that delaying phase two would force contractors to alter the planned roofline later, essentially throwing away up to $80,000 in duplicated construction labor. Spidalieri and Brakey voted to approve the $750,000 injection, capturing the state matching funds and preventing inflationary building costs from bloating the project’s scope in the future.
The board also confronted a shifting reality within the Geauga County Department on Aging. Director Jessica Bold informed commissioners that a recent bid opening to renew the county’s Assistance with Daily Living (ADL) home health aide program returned zero bids.
Spurring from regional labor shortages, private providers reported they would need $38 to $46 per hour to participate—up from the county's cap of $32. At those rates, maintaining the program would swallow the entire $400,000 budget while forcing the county to slash its caseload from 90 seniors down to just 41.
Rather than pouring massive public funds into an inefficient system serving a dwindling number of people, the board backed a realistic pivot. The $400,000 will instead be reallocated to expand heavily utilized, higher-impact initiatives like senior medical transit and the chore home safety program, which currently handles home accessibility modifications for over 300 local seniors.
Demonstrating a unified front on routine county maintenance, the commissioners unanimously approved several operational items to close out the session. On wastewater infrastructure, the board authorized a partial payment of $2,186,625.17 to the Ship Construction Company for active improvements at the McFarland Wastewater Treatment Plant, while Water Resources Director Nick Gorris facilitated the reclassification of $1.005 million in expiring ARPA funds to the project, saving federal tax dollars from being forfeited back to the U.S. Treasury.
To support senior mobility, the board approved $68,474 in local matching funds to apply for federal and state transit grants which, if awarded in the spring, will secure $273,894 from the federal government to buy two new senior center buses and an all-wheel-drive ADA transit van. Finally, regarding winter operations, the board voted to reject a technically non-compliant snowplowing bid from Macowski Landscaping and authorized the maintenance department to immediately readvertise the contract for the upcoming season, with county administrators confirming a short-term contingency plan is active should snow fall before the new bids open on Nov. 25.
